The University of Pennsylvania will officially open the region's premier facility for advanced research, education, and innovative public/private partnerships in nanotechnology on October 4. The 78,000 square-foot Krishna P. Singh Center for Nanotechnology will serve as the University's focal point for groundbreaking work in the emerging field of nanotechnology, which involves the manipulation of matter on an atomic and molecular scale.

Cancer researchers are not shy of using nanotechnology. Their work is making promising headway into developing safer and more effective treatments. And now, new developments in the area mean that the general public can help through crowdsourcing.

The new features of this biomimetic material will allow researchers to develop multiple nanosized chemical sensors over the same substrate by electron beam lithography, as a result, multifunctional biochips of major versatility will be developed.

A trio of researchers at North Dakota State University and the University of South Dakota have turned to computer modeling to help decide which of two competing materials should get its day in the sun as the nanoscale energy-harvesting technology of future solar panels - quantum dots or nanowires.

A pair of breakthroughs in the field of silicon photonics by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Micron Technology Inc. could allow for the trajectory of exponential improvement in microprocessors that began nearly half a century ago - known as Moore's Law - to continue well into the future, allowing for increasingly faster electronics, from supercomputers to laptops to smartphones.

Microfluidic specialist Dolomite is now taking entries for this year's Productizing Science Competition. After the huge success of last year's competition, the company is once again looking for innovative microfluidics concepts to turn them into commercial reality.

The graphene industry is moving beyond the hype and is focusing on realistic low hanging fruits. The production methods are fast improving, making volume production at competitive prices possible in the medium term. Most suppliers are fast moving up the value chain to focus on higher value added products such as master-batches or inks.

A new study has found that 'waviness' in forests of carbon nanotubes dramatically reduces their stiffness. Instead of being a detriment, the waviness may make the nanotube arrays more useful as thermal interface material for conducting heat away from integrated circuits.

There is certainly no shortage of lab-on-a-chip (LOC) devices, but in most cases manufacturers have not yet found a cost-effective way to mass produce them. Scientists are now developing a platform for series production of these pocket laboratories.